Jesaja 32:12

12 Men zal rouwklagen over de borsten, over de gewenste akkers, over de vruchtbare wijnstokken.

Jesaja 32:12 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 32:12

They shall lament for the teats
Either of the beasts of the field, that should be dried up, and give no milk, through the great drought that should be upon the land; or through the waste of the herbage by the enemy; or else of the women, their breasts and paps, which should afford no milk for their infants, through the famine that should press them sore, which would occasion great lamentation, both in mothers and children; though some think are to be understood of the fields, and are explained by them in the next clause; the fruitful earth being compared to a woman, its fields are like breasts or paps, which yield food and nourishment, but now should not afford any, and therefore there would be cause of lamentation. Jarchi interprets it, "they shall beat upon their breasts" F13 a gesture used in lamentation to express exceeding great grief and sorrow, ( Luke 18:13 ) ( 23:48 ) some, because the word rendered "lament" is of the masculine gender, and so not applicable to women, render the words in connection with the preceding verse ( Isaiah 32:11 ) thus,

``gird sackcloth on your loins, and on your mourning breasts'' F14;
though they may be interpreted indefinitely, "there shall be lamentation for the teats", among all sorts of people, men, women, and children: for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vine;
as the fields are when covered with corn and grass, and the vines with clusters of grapes, but now should not be, either through drought, or by being foraged and trampled on by the enemy.
FOOTNOTES:

F13 So it is explained in T. Bab. Moed Katon, fol. 27. 2.
F14 So Castalio.

Jesaja 32:12 In-Context

10 Vele dagen over het jaar zult gij beroerd zijn, gij dochters, die zo zeker zijt, want de wijnoogst zal uit zijn, er zal geen inzameling komen.
11 Beeft, gij geruste vrouwen; weest beroerd, dochters, die zo zeker zijt; trekt u uit, en ontbloot u, en gordt zakken om uw lendenen.
12 Men zal rouwklagen over de borsten, over de gewenste akkers, over de vruchtbare wijnstokken.
13 Op het land mijns volks zal de doorn en de distel opgaan; ja, op alle vreugdehuizen, in de vrolijk huppelende stad.
14 Want het paleis zal verlaten zijn, het gewoel der stad zal ophouden; Ofel en de wachttorens zullen tot spelonken zijn, tot in der eeuwigheid, een vreugde der woudezelen, een weide der kudden.
The Dutch Staten Vertaling translation is in the public domain.